Teachers’ perceived social-emotional competence: a multidimensional examination and links with leadership practices, commitment, and emotional exhaustion

There is growing attention to the importance of teachers’ social-emotional capability beliefs. However, existing research has generally been narrow in how it operationalizes these constructs. This study sought to advance knowledge of a social-emotional capability belief, perceived social-emotional competence (PSEC), comprising five dimensions: perceived competence for assertiveness, tolerance, social regulation, emotion regulation, and emotional awareness. Specifically, the five PSEC dimensions were examined in relation to two hypothesized predictors, autonomy-supportive and autonomy-thwarting leadership, and in turn in relation to two hypothesized outcomes, organizational commitment and emotional exhaustion. Using structural equation modeling involving cross-sectional data from 473 Australian teachers, findings showed that autonomy-supportive leadership was positively associated with all five PSEC dimensions, whereas autonomy-thwarting leadership was not associated with any dimension. In turn, perceived competence for tolerance and emotion regulation were associated with greater organizational commitment. Perceived competence for assertiveness was associated with lower emotional exhaustion, whereas perceived competence for social regulation was associated with greater emotional exhaustion. In addition, autonomy-supportive leadership was directly associated with greater organizational commitment, and autonomy-thwarting leadership was directly associated with greater emotional exhaustion. These findings hold implications for better understanding how to support teachers’ social-emotional experiences at work.